Main menu

Post navigation

Wander: Madison, WI

Five years ago we set out in a wobbly caravan from Chicago of one car stuffed with people and plants, a borrowed pick-up truck and and a crammed U-Haul truck to move my best pal, Lauren, to Madison, Wisconsin. She was accepted into a prestigious PhD program for Education and her new location offered a very good reason to visit Madison. Plus several other incentives for returning––cheese curds, small batch brewed beer, lake views and most importantly, the excellent people that came to shape Lauren’s world there.

Last month Lauren graduated with incredible honors and something rarer still––a teaching position at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. It was truly bittersweet for me to leave Lauren’s remarkable community of friends and Madison itself following graduation, so with that, here is a little love letter for my best friend (a PhD!) in the form of a travel guide which I wrote for New York Magazine.